THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to all of you wonderful SUPER mama's who replied. You've totally inspired me and given me new hope that we can bring Ava into the world and that she'll (probably) be just fine. I'm going to ask for the pre-term labor swabby test thing tomorrow at my checkup and go from there. I think I would feel better if we got the steroid shots 'just in case' but I trust the doctor and I know she'll do it if she thinks she needs to. I've been feeling very guilty about everything that has happened with her in the past week - I had a textbook easy pregnancy up until then and then all of a sudden....I guess that's how it goes though. At any rate, I will make sure I keep you all updated as to Ava's (and mine) status and definitely let you know when our 3rd (and LAST!) little miracle arrives. :-)

And Julie, I need to see pics of your little girl in her bows please!!! LOL :-) I'm thrilled that you like them.

33 weeks is a pretty "safe" age to have a preemie. My 34 weeker , my second baby,was born early due to preterm labor.I had her vaginally.she was 5 lbs 7 oz and only needed an oxygen hood on day 1, and cannulla prongs for another 7 days.. had to be tube fed through her nose (NG tube) until she was 5-6 days old. I just pumped until she was ready to nurse. She had really bad jaundice- which is why she stayed even after the oxygen was gone. She stayed 10 days total. Not bad! She grew and developed totally normal and Is a thriving healthy 5 yr old today.
My first/ oldest, my son, was a 36 weeker who was 5 lbs 12.. needed a lil whiff of oxygen at birth and had Jaundice.. otherwise Fine.He too was born because I had pretetm labor.he was also a vaginal birth.
my 3rd child was a 28 weeks,.. 2 lb 9 oz.... whole differant ball game!I had preterm labor at 26 weeks and had to hospitalized because i was dilated and had bulging membranes.. then at 28 weeks my water broke and she came less than 12 hours later by emergancy classical c-section. she was breech and had heart decelerations with labor.. and the cord was around her neck & she passed meconium in untero... she had to be intubated immidiately and stayed on the ventilator for 6 weeks.. jaundice, bradycardia, oxygen desaturations, apnea, sepsis, NEc... eye issues, you name it! was in the NICU for 65 days.. had a feeding tube for a yr.. but then successfully weaned from the tube to breastfeeding at 12 months old and nursed until she was 2 1/2 yrs.She is pretty healthy these days.. (she is almost 4) just very small for her age, and has some developmental delays.
my 27 weeker , was born 8 days after my water broke spontaniously , at home. I was hospitalized and tried to keep her in as long as I could but had to have her at 27 weeks via emer. classical c-section because her feet were emerging down the birth canal (footing breech) She has had a lot of problems. She was 1 lb 11 oz 12 inches at birth. which is concidered small for gestaional age .. She has similar issues as my 28 weeker but a lot WORSE and more. She had to come home on oxygen,after 85 days in the NICU, and have a GI surgery and a G-tube placed.She has been re-hospitalized 4 times. She has alot Of GI issues, lung issues and global developmental delays.
It is definately best to keep them in the oven as long as possible, but feel good knowing that survival rate for 33 weeks is like 99 % and long term outcomes are really quite good!
here are a few pictures of my babies:

33 weeks is a pretty "safe" age to have a preemie. My 34 weeker , my second baby,was born early due to preterm labor.I had her vaginally.she was 5 lbs 7 oz and only needed an oxygen hood on day 1, and cannulla prongs for another 7 days.. had to be tube fed through her nose (NG tube) until she was 5-6 days old. I just pumped until she was ready to nurse. She had really bad jaundice- which is why she stayed even after the oxygen was gone. She stayed 10 days total. Not bad! She grew and developed totally normal and Is a thriving healthy 5 yr old today.
My first/ oldest, my son, was a 36 weeker who was 5 lbs 12.. needed a lil whiff of oxygen at birth and had Jaundice.. otherwise Fine.He too was born because I had pretetm labor.he was also a vaginal birth.
my 3rd child was a 28 weeks,.. 2 lb 9 oz.... whole differant ball game!I had preterm labor at 26 weeks and had to hospitalized because i was dilated and had bulging membranes.. then at 28 weeks my water broke and she came less than 12 hours later by emergancy classical c-section. she was breech and had heart decelerations with labor.. and the cord was around her neck & she passed meconium in untero... she had to be intubated immidiately and stayed on the ventilator for 6 weeks.. jaundice, bradycardia, oxygen desaturations, apnea, sepsis, NEc... eye issues, you name it! was in the NICU for 65 days.. had a feeding tube for a yr.. but then successfully weaned from the tube to breastfeeding at 12 months old and nursed until she was 2 1/2 yrs.She is pretty healthy these days.. (she is almost 4) just very small for her age, and has some developmental delays.
my 27 weeker , was born 8 days after my water broke spontaniously , at home. I was hospitalized and tried to keep her in as long as I could but had to have her at 27 weeks via emer. classical c-section because her feet were emerging down the birth canal (footing breech) She has had a lot of problems. She was 1 lb 11 oz 12 inches at birth. which is concidered small for gestaional age .. She has similar issues as my 28 weeker but a lot WORSE and more. She had to come home on oxygen,after 85 days in the NICU, and have a GI surgery and a G-tube placed.She has been re-hospitalized 4 times. She has alot Of GI issues, lung issues and global developmental delays.
It is definately best to keep them in the oven as long as possible, but feel good knowing that survival rate for 33 weeks is like 99 % and long term outcomes are really quite good!

Your kids are so beautiful!! I can't imagine how scary the situations you went through were. I notice a lot of really early preemies (before 30 weeks) have certain preemie characteristic looks through toddlerhood, but your kiddos dont at all! THey are a beautiful group and I hope your 27-weeker does okay as time passes. (((((Hugs))))) to you mama , you've been through so much.

THANK YOU!!!
you are RIGHt micro preemies have a lot of Preemie looks to them.. my 28 weeker did for a long time.. she had "toaser head" lol.. ( bulgy eyes and a skinny narrow forehead) but outgrew that look atound 1 yr... Kirsten did too but she has outgrown it as well. The only "Preemie look" they have now is the fact that they are very small , even now. My 16 mo old 27 weeker is 16 lbs and 25 inches and my almost 4 yr old 28 weeker is just 26 .9 lbs 9 got weighed TODAY! ) and very short .. 34 inches tall. and A lot of people ask me if Kirsten was a preemie she is because they see her feeeding tube and a big chunk of micro-preemies end up with a g tube. It has been one heck-uva ride! it is VERY hard when you you are an AP momma who is dead set on cloth diapering and co-sleeping and breastfeeding and all that good stuff from BIRTH... priorities change when you have a preemie. we couldnt co-sleep or cloth diaper until she got home.. and she breastfed /breasstfeeds but that in itself has been an uphill battle. She gets most of the breastmilk from her tube. She is my last baby too.. because i didnt want to go through having a preemie again.. it raelly sucked the life outta me ( and our family ) this last time.. because kirsten was so very very close to NOT *making it * so many times. So i try to get over the stuff that didnt go " my way" and focus on what DID and look at how far she has come and be grateful.
I am thinking of adopting.... someday ,maybe a special needs kid because I already have experiance with it and these kids really need a family too and not everyone is receptive to a child with special needs.

I went into labor at 33weeks and some days and ds came at 34w...he spent 9 (i think-maybe a couple more) days in the NICU......I have lots of pics of him while there..so lmk if theres a certain pic your looking for
GOOD LUCK mama
the day ds was born
about 1 1/2 months ago

I went into labor at 33weeks and some days and ds came at 34w...he spent 9 (i think-maybe a couple more) days in the NICU......I have lots of pics of him while there..so lmk if theres a certain pic your looking for
GOOD LUCK mama
the day ds was born
about 1 1/2 months ago

my 2nd was a 34wker she stayed in NICU under oxygen hood for 3days then nasal and feeding tube until she was 8days old the haredest part was not gettng to hold her for 3days and getting her to breastfeed she would get so tired oh she was 5lbs 14oz and 18 inches and now she is a very tall healthy girl she is the biggest of all my kids funny how it changes and my 4th who was the only one who made it to term 37wks is my smallest weight wise he is not even on the chart

Wow, it is so amazing to see all of the people who have been in the same "boat" as me! I have had 2 little boys and both were preemies. My first one, Noah, was born at 29 weeks and 3 days. He weighed 3lbs 8oz. He dropped to 3lbs 3oz. My second son was born at 31 weeks and 2 days. He weighed 4lbs 1oz. He dropped to 3lbs 13oz. Noah spent 27 days in the NICU. Jake spent 30 days in the NICU. It was not fun and I wondered why it was happening to us, but I know that God has a plan for us. We went through some really scary days, but made it through just fine. You never know what will happen. If you go into the NICU, you should try to prepare yourself to see tubes, hear lots of beeping and lots of small or sick babies. It is scary, I won't lie to you, but once you see that beautiful baby, all you notice is her or him. You will truely see the miracle of birth in her or his eyes. I look at my boys and think that I am so blessed to have them happy and healthy! Good luck mama and know that you are in our prayers!

__________________
WOHM to NoahJacoband MeganLoving wife to my #1 man, Aaron I have a one of a kind family and a one of a kind life and I'm loving every minute of it!